Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Federal Cabinet on
28 September 2009
GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT
Table of Contents
1.
Preamble
2.
Definitions
3.
Present situation
4.
5.
Policy Principles
6.
Policy Guidelines
7.
6.1.
Increasing Access
6.2.
6.3.
6.4.
6.5.
6.6.
Public Awareness
6.7.
Capacity Development
6.8.
6.9.
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6.12. Legislation
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Government of Pakistan
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1. PREAMBLE
The Government of Pakistan, while recognizing that access to safe drinking water is the
basic human right of every citizen and that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure its
provision to all citizens, is committed to provision of adequate quantity of safe drinking
water to the entire population at an affordable cost and in an equitable, efficient and
sustainable manner.
In order to fulfill this commitment of the Government, the Ministry of Environment, in line
with provisions of the National Environment Policy and Vision 2030, has formulated the
National Drinking Water Policy through a countrywide consultation process.
The Policy aims to provide a guiding framework to the Federal Government, Provincial
Governments, State of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Federally Administered
Northern Areas (FANA), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Local
Governments, development authorities and other organizations to address the key issues
and challenges facing Pakistan in the provision of sustainable access to safe drinking
water.
The Policy complements, and will be implemented in coordination with, the National
Environment Policy, National Sanitation Policy, National Water Policy and other related
policies of the Government of Pakistan for protection and improvement of public health
and quality of life. The Federal Government, Provincial Governments, AJK and Federally
Administered Territories will devise their own strategies, plans and programmes in pursuit
of this policy.
2. DEFINITIONS
Drinking water, as referred to in the Policy, means that the water used for domestic
purposes including drinking, cooking, hygiene and other domestic uses. The term safe
water refers to the water complying with National Drinking Water Quality Standards.
Access means that at least 45 and 120 liter per capita per day1 of drinking water is
1
These are the guidelines values. The Provincial, AJK, FANA and FATA Governments, however, may
specify the minimum threshold quantity of water to be supplied per capita per day for urban as well as rural
areas. According to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Report, access to water-supply services is defined as
the availability of at least 20 liters per person per day from an "improved" source within 1 kilometer of the
user's dwelling. Improved drinking water supply is defined as access to household water connections,
public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and rainwater collections. Unimproved
Government of Pakistan
available for rural and urban areas, respectively, within the house or at a such a distance
that the total time required for reaching the water source, collecting water and returning to
home is not more than 30 minutes.
3. PRESENT SITUATION
Currently over 65% of Pakistans population is considered to have access to safe drinking
water2, Huge disparities, however, exist with regard to drinking water coverage between
urban and rural areas and provinces/regions. The quality of the drinking water supplies is
also poor, with bacterial contamination, arsenic, fluoride and nitrate being the parameters
of major concern. Sustainability of the existing water supply systems is also a major
issue in the sector.
Inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene result in the high incidence of water and
sanitation related diseases in Pakistan, which in turn increase morbidity and mortality
rates and pose a major threat to the survival and development of Pakistani children. It
has been estimated that water, sanitation and hygiene related diseases cost Pakistan
economy about Rs. 112 billion per year, over Rs. 300 million a day, in terms of health
costs and lost earning3. Out of this, the cost associated with dirrhoeal diseases alone is
estimated to range from 55 to 80 billion per year. Lack of adequate drinking water
facilities in schools is one of the contributing factors for low enrollment and high drop out
of children from schools.
Government of Pakistan
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
5. POLICY PRINCIPLES
The key policy principles that will be pursued for implementation of the Policy are as
follows:
(i)
Access to safe drinking water is the basic human right of every citizen and that it is
the responsibility of the Government to ensure its provision to all citizens;
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
Water allocation for drinking purposes (as defined under Section 2) will be given
priority over other uses;
In order to ensure equitable access, special attention will be given to removing the
existing disparities in coverage of safe drinking and for addressing the needs of the
poor and the vulnerable;
Recognizing the fact that women are the main providers of domestic waters supply
and maintainers of hygienic household environment, their participation in planning,
implementation, monitoring and operation and maintenance of water supply
systems will be ensured; and
Government of Pakistan
(v)
6. POLICY GUIDELINES
6.1. Increasing Access
(i)
New drinking water supply systems will be established and existing systems will be
rehabilitated and upgraded in urban as well as rural areas to ensure sustainable
access (as defined under Section 2 of the Policy) of safe drinking water to the
entire population of Pakistan. In this regard, the Federal, Provincial and AJK
Governments will provide and mobilize additional financial resources;
(ii)
With regard to enhancing the access to safe drinking water, priority will be
accorded to un-served and under-served areas, both urban and rural, including
Katchi Abadis and slums, disadvantaged areas, brackish water zones and those
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
(ix)
(x)
(xi)
Rain water harvesting at household and local levels will be promoted to augment
the municipal water supplies as well as for ground water recharge so as to promote
sustainability of water sources;
Community management of local water resources and integrated management of
water resources will be promoted;
Due consideration would be given to the adverse impacts of climate change in
planning and development of drinking water supply systems;
Abstraction of groundwater for various uses will be regulated;
Environmental impact assessment will be undertaken for all water sector projects
to ensure that they do not adversely impact the environment;
Recycling and re-use of water will be encouraged;
Existing water supply systems will be rehabilitated to reduce water losses and
wastage;
Water metering will be encouraged to check the indiscriminate use of drinking
water supplies; and
Water-saving plumbing equipment and water efficient techniques, devices and
appliances will be promoted.
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
established to ensure that quality of all public and private water supplies conforms
to the required standards. In this context, water quality laboratories will be
established at Provincial, District and local levels and the quality of drinking water
sources and supplies will be regularly monitored;
Water safety planning will be promoted for urban as well as rural water supply
systems;
National Action Plan for promotion of household water treatment options will be
developed and implemented;
Federal, Provincial, AJK, FANA and FATA Governments will assign the role of
Surveillance Agency to an appropriate organization to undertake independent
assessment of the quality of water being supplied by the water supply agencies in
Government of Pakistan
(v)
as well as sustainability;
Every public sector project will have special allocation for community mobilization;
Community mobilization units will be established in the water supply related
institutions;
Special focus will be placed on gender training programs for the staff of water
supply related institutions at all levels so that they are able to respond in a
sensitive manner to the gender differentiated needs in the drinking water sector;
Special efforts will be made to recruit and induct women in water supply related
institutions and other relevant agencies to ensure that the needs of women are
adequately addressed in the design and operation and maintenance of water
supply systems; and
Government of Pakistan
(vi)
(iv)
Government of Pakistan
Government of Pakistan
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(iv)
(v)
(vi)
In order to ensure effective utilization of resources and to maximize impacts, intersectoral approach will be promoted and implementation of the Policy will be
coordinated and integrated with relevant national policies, especially policies for
sanitation, water, environment, health and education sectors;
Adequate allocations will be made for provision of drinking water supply facilities in
educational institutions and health care facilities under the education and health
sector programmes; and
In order to ensure inter and intra-sectoral coordination, a multi-stakeholder Water
and Sanitation Coordination Committee will be established. Similar committees
will be set up at the Provincial, District and local levels.
6.12. Legislation
(i)
Pakistan Safe Drinking Water Act will be enacted to ensure compliance with the
National Drinking Water Quality Standards and hold the water supply institutions
accountable to the general public;
(ii)
The Drinking Water Quality Standards will be enforced throughout the country and
agencies responsible for the provision of water supply will ensure that the quality of
water supplied by them conforms to these standards;
(iii)
Water Conservation Act and relevant standards and guidelines will be enacted;
(iv)
Standards for water-saving pluming equipment and appliances will be enacted;
and
(v)
Legislation for regulation of groundwater exploitation will be enacted.
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This Policy will be implemented and monitored in conjunction with the National Sanitation
Policy which was approved by the Federal Cabinet in October 2006. The National
Sanitation Policy Implementation Committee envisaged under the National Sanitation
Policy will, therefore, be re-constituted as the National Drinking Water and Sanitation
Policy Implementation Committee. Accordingly, the Directorate of Environmental Health
envisaged under the National Sanitation Policy would be renamed as Directorate of
Water and Sanitation to serve as Secretariat for the Committee.
The Policy will be reviewed and updated after every five years by a committee constituted
specially for the purpose of reviewing the implementation of its guidelines, their efficacy
and continued relevance to the changing situation in the country.
Government of Pakistan
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